Special package



Feb. 18, 1941. R. J. N'EBEL 2,232,260

SPECIAL PACKAGE Filed July 19, 1937 ENTOR Fay/7M0 I IN 5354 ATTO RN EYPatented Feb. 1% i941 senate rise aerator srncra enchant Raymond E.Nobel, Euclid, Qhio, assignor a The Dohechmun Company, (Cleveland, Ghio,a corporation oi Ohio Application duiy is, 1937, Serial No. 1541.354

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a package and to a wrapper for forming thesame, as well as to the art of packaging material such, for example, asedible commodities, especially those having'rela- 5 tively hard ends orother projections which tend to' puncture or tear cellulosic film.Spaghetti is representative of materials of this general class, and,therefore, it has been selected for the purposes of illustration. Whilethese commodities to may be sold advantageously in sealed packageshaving a transparency through which'the contents may be displayed, yet,if in handling or otherwise the wrapper is torn or punctured, asfrequently happens, a prospective purchaser may refuse to accept thepackage. This damage to the wrapper usually occurs when some or thecontents becomedislodged from their proper positions and have their endedges projected sharply against the enclosing wrapper. The usual packageformed solely of cellulosic him is not capable of adequately resistingthe strain produced inthis manner, nor is the usual package of cel=-lulosic film capable of concealing damaged or uneven end portions of thecontents thereof.

The purposes of this invention are to provide a wrapper which may hemade of cellulosic film and formed into a package adapted to withstandstresses tending to rupture or tear the film, such as thosestresses'caused by shifting or disarrangement of contents of the classdescribed, so

that the wrapper may retain its imperforate character even under theserather peculiar and severe conditions.

The invention also provides a wrapper which may advantageously andconveniently be embellished by printing appropriate decorations thereon,whereby said decorations are not only brilliantly presented withoutdanger of contaminating the contents of the package but also act to gmask uneven, broken, or otherwise unattractive ends of the contentswhich might otherwise detract irom the salability of the package.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive,and eficient method of 5 envl apping commodities of the class describedinto a firm package adapted to hold the contents securely in an orderlyarrangement in which they may be attractively displayed through atransparent area of the wrapper.

The features of the invention are illustrated in,

Fig. 3 is a side elevation illustrating the wrapand lo Fig. 3 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 2, but illustrating a modified form of wrapper.

In the preferred embodiment oi the invention,

' as shown in Figs. 1 to 7 of'the drawing, the wrapper (Figs; 1 and 2)comprises a sheet ill of fiber- 15 less cellulosic material, preferablyregenerated cellulose sheeting or like sheeting having substantially thesame or very similar characteristics. Along the opposite end edges ofthe wrapper narrower sheets i2 and it of this material 20 are arrangedto overlie the wrapper proper to provide superposed plies along the endareas of the wrapper. Conveniently the strips l2 and I3 may be formedseparately and attached to the sheet it in any suitable manner, as bystrips of 25 adhesive it and l s arranged near the outer edges of thesheet i6, leaving the'opposed surfaces of these superposed pliesotherwise free and unattached. Instead of forming the sheets Ni, ii andit separately, they may all be formed as part of 30 one integral sheetas shown in Fig. 8, wherein the superposed plies are provided by formingthe sheet it of greater width and then folding over the ends thereof toprovide the plies I 2 and 5 3 $1138 35 In all other respects the wrappershown in Figs.

1, 2 and 3 have the same features of construction and they may beutilized in the same manner to form a package. The modification shown inFigs.

1 and 2 is the preferred form, however, since it 4o permits the use ofnarrower Webs of material. Further, the relative stiffness of the edgesin the preferred forth reduces the tendency of the piles to wrinkle andassists in the manipulation of the wrapper so that a neat package-ismore easily 5 formed.

In order to add to the general appearance and sales appeal of packagesformed. from these wrappers and to mask uneven or broken ends of thecontents thereof, the sheets it or it are decorated, preferably byprinting while the sheet is still in the web and before the piles l2 andit are attached to the sheet 96 (Fig. l) or before the piles 52 and itare folded over the sheet it (Fig. d). These printed decorations, or asmasks, are illustrated as comprising substantially opaque bands of colorl1 and I! extending from the narrow unprinted areas I! and I l adjacentthe edges of the wrapper to the inner As illustrated in Fig. 2, the ink20, which forms the color bands I! and J8, adheres to the sheet l0 butis preferably completely covered by the plies I2 and I 3. Thus the pliesl2 and I! act not only as necessary reinforcements for the ends of thewrapper but also as slip sheets to prevent any offsetting of the ink 20onto the contents of the package.

\It will be noted from the foregoing and in Fig. 1 that the areas I! andII adjacent the edges of the wrapper are left uncolored; The uncoloredareas I! and 2| thereby permit the plies l2 and I3 to be securelyattached to the sheet 10 and the effect of strips of adhesive H and I6is not adversely aflected by the ink 20.

It will be evident from the foregoing that'the coloring of thesedecorative masking bands may be translucent as well as opaque, and thatvarious color combinations may be used as desired. The intermediateportion of the wrapper, that is, the area between the colored bands inthe illustrated embodiment, is preferably left uncolored or transparentin order to provide a window through which the contents of the packagemay be displayed.

In forming a spaghetti package with wrappers of this kind, a bundle ofspaghetti '24 is placed on the wrapper when the latter is laid'out flatas shown in Fig. 1. The spaghetti is arranged so that the ends thereofextend above and part way across the superposed plies l2 and I3. Thenthe upper and lower edges of the wrapper, as viewed in Figfil, arebrought together and tightly sealed, either in an overlappingrelationship, or

by means of a sealed confectioners fold, This forms an open ended tubeas shown in Fig. 3. The package may then be completed by' folding in theside portions of the extending ends of this tube, as illustrated in Fig.4, and then folding over'the remaining upper 'and lower extending endportions 21 and 21-. These infolded ends may be sealed in any approvedmanner as is well understood in this art, Preferably an end strip 26(Figs. 5-7) of regenerated cellulose or the like, is sealed across theinfolded ends to complete the pa'ckage.

Many of the advantages of this invention may I be observed from Fig. 6.A package for a commodity, such as spaghetti, is subjected to conditionswhich are not generally encountered. A bundle of spaghetti comprisesessentially a bundie of slender sticks, each of which is movablelongitudinally relative to the others, and each of these sticks hasrelatively hardand sharp ends which are capable of puncturing the endsof the usual package of regenerated cellulose, and this frequentlyhappens. It has been found, however, that by providing a wrapper andforming a package as disclosed herein, the sticks of spaghetti no longerpuncture the wrapper but remain effectlvely sealed within the package.The arrangement of the superposed plies for the improved endconstruction not only provides additional strength to resist anytendency of the contents to puncture or tear the ends, but alsoprovides, in effect, a pad for each end of the package so as to cushionand thereby minimize the eflects of jars and shocks incident tohandling.

Furthermore, the exterior of the wrapper is continuously smooth andgloss). and the attractive appearance of the package is not marred bywrinkles caused by bands of adhesives or by the dull surface presentedby inks capable of being used on cellulosic films.

'While the preferred forms of the invention and the best known mannerand process of making and using the same have been illustrated anddescribed herein, it will be understood that various modifications willoccur to those skilled in the art when informed by this specification,and that the invention is not limited except as indicated by theappended claim.

What is claimed is:

An elongated package wrapper for containing a plurality of loose stickssuch as uncooked spaghetti or the like, the package wrapper comprisingan outer sheet of transparent cellulosic film of a width greater thanthe length of the sticks enwrapped to permit the outer portions of theside margins of said outer sheet to project beyond the ends of thesticks, bands of ink printed on the inner surface of the two oppositeside margins of said outer sheet, inner supplemental sheets overlyingthe printed side margins of said outer sheet, the outer edges of saidsupplemental sheets being substantially flush with the side edges ofsaid outer sheet and adhesively secured thereto to provide side edgeportions on said outer Y sheet stiffer than the body of said outersheet, and the remaining portions of said supplemen-

